Bird flu deal for Bernard Matthews criticized

The firm will be reimbursed between £3 ($6)and £4 ($8)a bird, depending on their age, despite flagrant hygiene lapses at its Suffolk plant. Straw told MPs he felt "uncomfortable" at the high level of payment, which led to the Government being criticized by MPs from all parties. About 159,000 turkeys were culled at Bernard Matthews's Suffolk farm to prevent the H5N1 virus spreading. Opposition MPs criticized the £589,356.89 compensation and the failure of a final report into the outbreak published yesterday to pinpoint how the infection occurred. Straw told MPs: "All of us are uncomfortable about the reports of high levels of compensation to Mr Matthews's firm."

The company said the reimbursement covered only the cost of raising the birds and not their potential market value. "It has been documented that the avian flu outbreak has cost our business millions of pounds in lost revenue," a spokesman for the company said. "So in the circumstances we believe the compensation is fair and appropriate." A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said compensation was paid to the owners of healthy animals destroyed as an incentive for diseases to be reported early.

The department's final report into the outbreak says investigators could not uncover any "proven" source for the bird flu outbreak at the plant in Holton, Suffolk. The "most plausible" explanation was that the H5N1 virus came from turkey meat imported from Hungary before the infection came to light there, according to the National Emergency Epidemiology Group's final findings. But the report says the possibility of H5N1 going undetected in turkeys was a "rare event". The precise source of the bird flu outbreak had not been found because it was a "very unlikely occurrence and an isolated event", the report says.

Investigators found no evidence of H5N1 in wild birds in Britain nor of undisclosed infection in domestic poultry in Britain. The report says the disease broke out in a turkey shed that was in a poor state of maintenance. It occurred within days of 60kg of breast meat from Hungary being discarded into open waste bins because it had been dropped on the floor. Keeping bins uncovered is contrary to hygiene regulations. There were holes in the shed woodwork where the infection developed and the ventilation vents were not covered in mesh, side vents were close to the ground and the roof leaked. The report says the holes would allow access for wild birds, rats or mice that could have carried in the infection. Inspectors found gulls feeding on scrap meat and loose polythene bags containing waste meat liquid. The standards of biosecurity for personnel and vehicles were described as good but the report says risks were caused by "poor building maintenance".

Debby Reynolds, the chief veterinary officer, said the outbreak at the Bernard Matthews's farm seemed to be the result of "a series of normally low probability events and circumstances". An earlier investigation by the Food Standards Agency found no basis for prosecuting Bernard Matthews over the bird flu outbreak. Peter Ainsworth, the Conservative environment spokesman, criticized the failure to find the cause of, or hold anyone responsible for, the bird flu outbreak. "Bearing in mind that there must have been a serious failure of bio-security at the Bernard Matthews plant, many people will be absolutely astonished that no one will be held responsible for the outbreak," he said. "Instead the company will receive £589,356.89 in compensation funded by the taxpayer."

The H5N1 virus was reported at the Bernard Matthews poultry farm on February 1 and was confirmed two days later. More than 2,500 turkeys died and another 159,000 birds were slaughtered. Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, said Bernard Matthews had not been held to account. He said: "If consumers lose confidence in the regulatory regime, the damage to the whole poultry farming industry may be devastating. "Giving over half a million pounds of taxpayers' money to Bernard Matthews will cause considerable anger unless the business is also held to account for its biosecurity lapses." Defra will publish a "lessons learned" report about the bird flu outbreak later this year.

Ben Bradshaw, the animal health minister, said: "Although we cannot be sure how the outbreak happened, this episode reflects the need for constant vigilance, high levels of biosecurity and robust and well developed contingency planning in dealing with animal disease outbreaks." Bernard Matthews said Defra's final report was "inconclusive" about the cause of avian flu and called for more testing of wild birds. The firm said it had carried out "rigorous" internal investigations to try to find the source of the infection, and brought in a number of biosecurity measures. (telegraph.co.uk)